Conserve Government Hill and Bishop Hill - make the area a Heritage Precinct with height restrictions

Environmental Petition

Conserve Government Hill and Bishop Hill – make the area a Heritage Precinct with height restrictions

297 Signatures Obtained, This Campaign Ended on June 23, 2018

297

Signatures
obtained

203

Target: 500

Description

Town Planning Board,

Historic Government Hill and Bishop Hill within Old Town Central are currently threatened by a huge private hospital development proposed by Sheng Kung Hui – please support Government Hill Concern Group’s planning application to protect this historic area! Historic Government Hill and Bishop Hill within Old Town Central are currently threatened by a huge private hospital development proposed by Sheng Kung Hui – please support Government Hill Concern Group’s planning application to protect this historic area!

Petition Letter

To Town Planning Board,

I support this application (Y/H4/12) for the above Site to have an “Other Specified Uses (Heritage Precinct)” zoning and impose a Building Height Restriction. I support the application for the following reasons:

The Historic and Architectural Appraisal commissioned by the Government for the former Central Government Offices substantiates the heritage value of the entire Application Site, including Government Hill and Bishop Hill. This application implements the Appraisal’s suggestion to create a “Special Protected Area”, and is against any significant redevelopment and protects the Area from inappropriate development.
The proposal also implements Planning Department’s consideration and assessment of a similar application in 2012 which provides that there be a comprehensive review of the height restrictions for Central District.
The redevelopment proposal by Sheng Kung Hui (SKH) of the former Central Hospital will have a detrimental impact on the historical low-rise structures and greenery landscape of the heritage cluster. This proposal seeks Town Planning Board (TPB) attention on any increase in building height and building bulk in the future. The TPB has a statutory responsibility to consider proposals to ensure good sensitive design and respecting and protecting the special characteristics of this neighbourhood.
There is great public concern about the environmental, heritage and traffic impact of this proposed hospital development. Central and Western District Councillors have expressed grave concern. The Development Bureau pointed out in a 2011 paper that SKH’s large-scale redevelopment would “give rise to incompatibility with the historic buildings and cause some undesirable visual impact on the surrounding areas”, and negotiated a reduction in development scale, however the current proposal by SKH for a 25-storey hospital ignores previous negotiations with Development Bureau and is an unacceptable scale of development.
This proposal preserves the historical building cluster and landscape for the social benefit of the general public of Hong Kong. The proposed controls are not exceptional or unnecessarily restrictive, and is in line with TPB’s previously imposed restrictions on private land relating to building height and scale in almost all GIC (Government, Institution and Community) zones on Outline Zoning Plans.

Petition Creator

This petition was started by 政府山關注組 on June 15, 2018, with an end date of June 23, 2018.

政府山關注組成員包括中西區關注組、長春社、創建香港、環保觸覺、公共專業聯盟、美港聯盟、城西關注組等團體及其他専業人士和市民

Government Hill Concern Group includes the following members: Central & Western Concern Group, Conservancy Association, Designing Hong Kong, Green Sense, Professional Commons, Alliance for a Beautiful Hong Kong, Sai Wan Concern, Mini-Spotters and other concerned professionals and individuals